Kyle Wade Clinkscales was born in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. He is the only child of John Dixon Clinkscales and Mary Louise Davenport Clinkscales.

While attending Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, Kyle worked as a part-time bartender at the Moose Club in LaGrange, Troup County, Georgia, USA. He studied business at the university.

Kyle was 22 years old when he went missing on the evening of January 27, 1976. That evening, he was supposed to give Ray Hyde some money and after an argument, Hyde fatally shot Kyle, according to Jimmy Earl “Slim” Jones.

Jeanne Pawlak Johnson was allegedly with Kyle when he was fatally shot. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. On January 9, 1956, his grandfather James Sexton Davenport died in Calhoun County, Alabama at age 78.
2. In 1962, he and his parents moved to LaGrange.
3. On July 29, 1974, his grandmother Norma Clara Horn Clinkscales died in Talladega, Talladega County, Alabama at age 72.
4. In September 1974, he entered Auburn University.
5. At around 11:00 p.m. on January 27, 1976, he left the Moose Club and planned to drive back to Auburn University but he never arrived there.
6. On February 1, 1976, his parents reported him to police in Auburn and LaGrange. His white two-door 1974 Ford Pinto Runabout was also missing.
7. On November 15, 1986, his grandfather John Wilks Clinkscales died in Talladega at age 88.
8. In 1996, investigators received information from someone who said they overheard Hyde and Jones talking about his death. Hyde was taken into custody for being a felon in possession of a firearm. In July 2001, Hyde died.
9. On December 20, 2001, his grandmother Essie Conola Paris Davenport died at Regional Medical Center in Oxford, Alabama at age 94.
10. In April 2005, Jones was charged with concealing his death, hindering the apprehension of a criminal and two counts of giving false statements and concealment of the facts. Jones acknowledged helping move his body shortly after his death. In June 2005, Johnson was arrested and charged with concealing his death, giving false statements and obstruction. Jones pleaded guilty in May 2006 in Georgia to giving false information to law enforcement officers regarding his murder and was sentenced to prison and incarcerated from September 2007 until January 2013.
11. On May 13, 2007, his father died from a heart attack at West Georgia Medical Center in LaGrange at age 82.
12. On January 19, 2021, his mother at Wellstar West Georgia Hospice in LaGrange at age 92.
13. On December 7, 2021, his 1974 Ford Pinto Runabout was found submerged in a creek in LaFayette, Chambers County, Alabama. Inside the car were human bones and his identification and credit cards and other personal items. On February 19, 2023, the Troup County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that the bones belong to him.